This invention relates to a beach towel and more particularly to an improved beach towel which includes means for both orienting the towel with respect to some fixed geographical point and means for regulating the amount and direction of sun one receives from utilizing such towel. Since the term "towel" is believed to be specific to a fabric-type material which is useful for absorbing moisture in addition to lying upon, the present invention is referred to as a device wherein a portion of such device includes the planar sheet whether such sheet is a fabric towel or made from any other suitable material such that it can suit the purposes of this invention as by providing an appropriate surface to be placed upon the beach or other surface on which the sun bather or person engaged in other timed activity may rest.
A recurrent problem in sun bathing is that different parts of one's body are exposed to the sun's rays for different amounts of time and, accordingly, either results in an uneven tan or undesirable overexposure of certain body parts. In other words during sunbathing or beach activities, it is common to lay upon a blanket or beach towel and inadvertently maintain either by falling asleep, dozing or attention to other activities, orientate one's body in the same or limited positions for an extensive time period. Additionally with the increased awareness of medical damage that can be caused by overexposure to the sun's rays, it would be desirable to provide some means by which the amount of time one is exposed thereto can be more regulated.
Accordingly, it is an overall object of the present invention to provide a device in the form of a sheet such as a towel, blanket or other appropriate surface such that the person sunbathing may orientate himself or herself in a particular fashion with respect to the surface and be periodically warned by a timing device that it is time to re-orientate one's position vis-a-vis the sheet and thus the sun.
An additional object of the present invention is the provision of a sunbathing device which additionally includes means by which a portion of the sheet thereof can be orientated with respect to some geographical point such as the edge of the beach and the like to insure the sheet remains in a fixed position and that periodic movement with respect thereto results in the desired re-orientation with respect to the sun.
These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by a sunbathing device comprising a planar sheet having opposed upper and lower surfaces and having a generally regular geometric periphery, said upper surface including a plurality of lines extending from opposed points on said periphery across said sheet so as to divide said sheet upper surface into a plurality of area segments which are radially adjacent to each other, means provided on said upper surface for orienting said sheet with respect to a known geographical reference point and a periodic timer in turn having an alarm fixedly attached to said sheet whereby a person lying on one of said area segments is signaled by said timer to move to another segment so as to regulate sun exposure.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.